1. Field
The invention disclosed and claimed herein generally pertains to an extensible, graph based data model or data structure that is used to capture the entities in an application programming interface (API) ecosystem and their relations. More particularly, embodiments of the invention pertain to Web APIs and Web API ecosystems, as described hereinafter.
2. Description of the Related Art
APIs are increasingly important for companies to enable partners and consumers to access their services and resources. API ecosystems deal with related challenges like publication, promotion and provision of APIs by providers and identification, selection and consumption of APIs by consumers. To address these challenges, match consumers with relevant APIs, and support API providers and thus ultimately the ecosystem to evolve, API ecosystems rely on information about APIs, their usage and characteristics, and the social environment around them.
Today more and more business functions are delivered as API-centric services, enabling businesses and developers to co-create customer value with speed and scale. Mobile, analytics, social and cloud technologies fuel the hyper-growth of API-centric businesses as-a-service economies. This new economy, also known as the API economy, is in full swing as can be attested by many trade publications, and by certain web sites that track new APIs and their use. At a recent time, one web site had just crossed 10,000 APIs, from just over 100 APIs back in 2005, 5000 APIs in early 2012 and 9000 APIs just in April of 2013.
Born-on-the-web companies are co-creating value through APIs, and enterprises are taking notice. Certain enterprises that first open consumer-driven APIs are exposing core capabilities from their backend enterprise systems. Some insurance companies are developing relationships with pharmacies to facilitate prescription refills. A certain credit card company is using social media to change the way they reach the customer and deliver promotions at the right time and place.